Rampage get some help

The Rampage have won three straight, getting great goaltending from both Dov Grumet-Morris and Jacob Markstrom.

As a team, the Rampage have allowed only two goals in their last three games. Don’t think I’ve ever written that sentence about a Rampage team, at least not recently.

DGM is on one of his exceptional runs where the puck finds him or hits a post or gets shot over a wide open net.

Markstrom is making Panther officials smile as they contemplate the future of the franchise playing composed and confident in the crease.

All Grumet-Morris did was stop the AHL’s best overall team, Oklahoma City, 1-0 in their own barn.

Then, he found a way to backstop the Rampage to a 2-1 win Friday night against Peoria, knowing he had to pitch a shutout with 60 percent of the San Antonio offense on the shelf or off the roster — called up to Florida.

The Panthers returned Michael Repik for Saturday’s game and Jon Matsumoto will be in Milwaukee today. But Mark Cullen, after getting waylaid by a Frances Wathier shoulder in Cedar Park last Friday, is still rehabbing in SA and may return next weekend when the Rampage finally sit on the home bench.

Thank goodness Greg Rallo has been playing and scoring like, well, Greg Rallo.

The former Texas Stars leading career scorer has been ripping up the score sheet, netting points in eight of his last 12 games, including a goal in four of the last five. Only Bill Thomas has more goals WITH the Rampage this season and he’s tied with Bracken Kearns.

Rallo’s emergence has fortified the Rampage lineup, taking the pressure off the BBM line (Thomas, Kearns and Cullen) — when their able to play together — by giving coach Chuck Weber more offensive options. Pairing Rallo with hard working and hungry winger Evan Barlow and Matsumoto doesn’t hurt either.

But because of the Cullen injury and the callups, Weber has had to scramble and Rallo and James Wright have worked well together.

And Thomas, not known for his setup work, had his first two assist game of the season last night.

The defensemen are looking to score and doing it. Even offensively-challenged Roman Derlyuk has contributed a goal and two assists in a four game stretch last week.

Results?

The Rampage are in sixth place in the Western Conference with 63 points, winning three straight and 13-5-0-1 over their last 19 games.

The surge has put them only one point behind the slumping Houston Aeros, who are dealing with call-up and injury problems of their own. Chad Rau and Matt Hackett just came back from Minnesota. Jeff Taffe, Cody Almond, Carson McMillan, and Jed Ortmeyer have all been up this month, as well as Jeff Penner, who is still up north. Throw in that the Aeros are on a franchise-high 11-game road trip for no apparent reason (won’t get any sympathy here, right?), and it adds up to a major challenge for John Torchetti to get the Spacemen ready for the run.

Now, the St. Louis Blues pulled an “NHL-parent-club-move-that-could-spell-doom-for-their-minor-league-affiiliate-but-who-cares- because-they-got-a-second-round-pick” transaction, shipping Peoria’s 6-7 AHL All-Star Game MVP goaltender, Ben Bishop for the draft pick from Ottawa. Great move for the Rampage in that it gets Bishop out of the conference — the Rampage have only one more game against the Rivermen this year, but they could face them in the playoffs if both teams survive the stretch run. And since he’ll be Binghampton, he’ll be playing out of the way. The Rampage have had his number this season, but he is still Ben Bishop and capable of stealing game by himself.

The only negative to the move from a Rampage angle is the Rivermen have three games left with OKC, two out in Abbotsford, one with Houston and another with Texas. The Blues are giving the controls to Jake Allen, who deserved better last night when the Rampage won, 2-1, after being outshot and outplayed offensively by Peoria. Allen is a Blues second round pick from 2008, so it could be the parent looking to see if Allen has the bloodline to play in the NHL, knowing this could be his one moment.

Here ‘s the bottom line.

The Rampage still have four of their next five games on the road. They play today in Milwaukee against an Admirals team that is out of the playoff picture right now, but come on, these are the Milwaukee Admirals, who have been in the post-season nine straight seasons and 22 of the last 24 years!!! So they are always dangerous.

Then there’s Chicago Wednesday night. The Rampage won last time they played the Wolves there, but they win in Allstate Arena as often as Northwestern plays in the Rose Bowl.

Then it’s Houston at home Saturday night, followed by the final break of the schedule — off until the next Friday in Texas (where Rampage teams always seem to lose in overtime or shootouts) for two with a five-game homestand to follow. After a road trip to Abbotsford, where they’ve won five of six games, they come back for six of their last nine games at home.

The playoffs are ripe for the taking, folks, barring a Panthers pipeline grab or injuries.

And tomorrow’s trade deadline.

We’ll see how active the Panthers will be tomorrow, but they do need offensive help and some of the Rampage players could be changing jerseys as part of bigger deals. Just a simple adjustment like trading backup goaltender Scott Clemmensen for a second or third line scorer could crumple Rampage fans dreams of watching Markstrom and Grumet-Morris lead their team to the playoffs for only the third time in 10 seasons.